“*Twining the fantasy of an unfettered childhood adventure with the majestic reality of an ancient redwood forest, Fleming and Groenink offer an outdoors variation on a classic children’s rhyme: “This is the forest./ This is the steeple./ Giants and saplings/ and just a few people.” An expression of hope that curiosity and wonder can transform into stewardship and care.”
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Publishers Weekly STARRED Review
Booklist STARRED Review
Amazon Best Book of 2025
Bill Martin, Jr. Picture Book Award Finalist
Magnolia Award Finalist
The Everything Trail
Illustration by Chuck Groenink from The Everything Trail. Written by Meg Fleming and published by Beach Lane Books/S&S (August 26, 2025)
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The Everything Trail
Come along on an eye-popping journey through the forest with a group of young explorers ready to discover everything nature has to offer in this lyrical, awe-inspiring picture book.
The wind waves its hand.
The trees take a bow.
Everything’s big.
And everything’s small…
From giant redwoods to tiny saplings, steep canyons to shallow creeks, and soaring eagles to crawling critters, there are endless wonders to discover along a trail through the forest. This sweeping story of a day spent in nature will inspire young readers to soak in all the marvels, big and small, that surround them.
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What People Are Saying
This forest is a holy place, and children and their families should be inspired to go outside and look for themselves. - Horn Book Reviews
Publishers Weekly STARRED Review
*Twining the fantasy of an unfettered childhood adventure with the majestic reality of an ancient redwood forest, Fleming (Rock That Vote) and Groenink (Whales in the City) offer an outdoors variation on a classic children’s rhyme: “This is the forest./ This is the steeple./ Giants and saplings/ and just a few people.” As intrepid young hikers, portrayed with various skin tones, set off, the book orients vertically across the spreads to portray towering trees looming far above. Across gently textured digital illustrations, striking bird’s- and worm’s-eye perspectives follow the kids walking in cool, green shadows, marveling at dappled sunlight, and losing socks in a creek. When the kids emerge from a tunnel into a sun-drenched meadow, the book’s orientation turns horizontal, adding to a sense of “the great open wide.” With the setting of the sun, the children wave goodbye to what they consider “a forest of friends,” and one youth even ardently embraces a redwood. It all reads as an expression of hope that curiosity and wonder can transform into stewardship and care. Ages 4–8. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Aug.)”
Booklist STARRED Review
Frolicking text and a soaring, horizontal design beckon readers along a high-spirited adventure where curious children explore a towering redwood forest and many of the wonders that impressive ecosystem has to offer. With a lilting cadence building a strong sense of place through rhyming, well-paced revelations, a group of children appreciates the beauty and wonder that nature offers. Periodically, they pause: “Down through the canyon, / into the cool. / A sun-dappled rest stop / bridges a pool.” Two friends initially duck into the trees, but the group soon grows to four, then six, and then more, as the crew of brightly dressed, cheery kids investigates fragrant plants and various animals found along a path through massive, mossy rocks. Sweeping digital illustrations in rich browns and greens showcase giant trees and lush ferns, lending a decidedly Pacific Northwest vibe to an adventurous day spent traipsing downstream, tracked by shifting light and ending with a warm glow of sunset. Mostly double-page spreads require rotating the book to read, much like Corey R. Tabor’s Mel Fell (2021), with delightful shifts in perspective and panoramic scenes that should captivate storytime audiences and immerse lap listeners. The sort of read-aloud one closes with a smile; readers will long to revisit these woods. - Kit Ballinger
Horn Book Review
Two children head into the redwood forest for a hike. Along the way, they collect a few more friends and together discover the marvels of fallen logs, banana slugs, ferns, and towering trees. Inviting her readers in with the almost familiar phrase—“This is the forest. / This is the steeple”—Fleming goes on to describe the plants and animals of this sensory-rich adventure in lilting rhyming text. “This is a redwood. / Look how it soars, / surrounded by sorrel /crowding the floor.” Through the tall, narrow book, redwood trunks fill the pages bleeding off the top and sides, helping to convey a sense of the trees’ majesty. On other pages, smaller panel illustrations walk readers through the diversity of the forest: “That way an eagle. / This way a bug. / Fast like a falcon. / Slow like a slug.” Groenink’s cheerful, expansive digital illustrations convey both the wonder of the forest itself, with rich greens and shafts of sunlight, and the joy of the wide-eyed multiracial cast of children as they explore and play.
This forest is a holy place, and children and their families should be inspired to go outside and look for themselves. - MAEVE VISSER KNOTH
Kirkus Reviews
On their first reads, kids will likely focus on the young adventurers, but repeat readers will enjoy spying forest animals around, above, and below. Will surely whet children’s appetites to get out and walk amid nature’s steeples.